Maurice Galbraith Cullen

Canadian, 1866–1934

Wharf Beaupré, 1898

oil on canvas

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Born in Newfoundland, Maurice Cullen grew up and began his art training in Montreal. However, he spent much of his early painting career in Paris and eventually exhibited in the French Salon. He returned regularly to Canada, and through the summer and winter of 1896 he sketched and painted in Beaupré, near Quebec City, with William Brymner and James Wilson Morrice. Along with these artists, Cullen is recognized as one of the first Canadians to adopt an Impressionist style through the textural application of paint and the heightened suggestion of light and atmospheric effects. Cullen’s Impressionism is also distinguished by the sense of immediacy and colour consistency of Wharf, Beaupré, indicating the work was likely painted to a large degree en plein air (outdoors), rather than in his studio.